James and Jennifer Hamilton have been cruising ever since they decided, over a glass of wine in Seattle, to take “a quick blast around the world” on Dirona, their Nordhavn 52. That was in 2012. Since then, they’ve crossed the Pacific, spending months in New Zealand and more months in Australia, then crossing the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, and then heading up the Atlantic to Barbados and eventually the east coast of the U.S. and as far north as Newfoundland.
Here’s a great video of some of their latest trips, including the one they just finished, some 2,800 nm and 17 days from Newport, RI, to Ireland across the North Atlantic (pictured above). Along the way, they hit three separate gales and 20-foot seas; they had to slow down to 4 knots for long periods of time. The Hamiltons now plan to spend the summer in Ireland and then go down to London and head over to Norway next summer. They have no set schedule, they go where the mood strikes. The point, James says, “is to see the world while we still can.”
Take a look at some of the Hamilton’s recent voyages and their life at sea:
